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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Occupy Charlotte Members Improvise Late-Night Protest March

Several of Charlotte's center-city streets were blocked by protesters in the late hours of Monday night, as they improvised a march at around 11:00.

According to reports, the group of about one hundred protesters left Marshall Park, the site of Occupy Charlotte's group camp, before marching through uptown streets for roughly an hour. The march went down McDowell and Davidson Streets, where the protesters turned down 11th street and returned to Marshall Park by marching back down McDowell.

Around 200 police officers, including CMPD Chief Monroe, followed and monitored the protesters for the duration of the march. The officers kept a focus on maintaining safety in the bordering residential neighborhoods. This was accomplished with a swarm of officers on bicycles. These officers flanked marchers, keeping them out of the residential areas. Also monitoring the march was a group of police officers on foot.

Though some of the protesters taunted police, no one was arrested or injured during the event. When they returned to Marshall Park, shortly after midnight, a number of protesters laid in the street near the park, but left a short time later without conflict.

Some of the protesters involved claimed they were protesting the massive police presence at the convention, while others referred to the march simply as a test.